Investigators: Miss. suspect used detective’s gun

By HOLBROOK MOHR and JEFF AMY

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Authorities said the city police detective killed while interrogating a suspect at police headquarters in Mississippi’s capital was shot four times.

Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said Jackson Police Detective Eric Smith was shot twice in the chest and twice in the arm.

She said the suspect, who also died in the shooting Thursday, had one self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said 23-year-old Jeremy Powell wrestled the gun away from Smith in a third-floor interview room, shot the detective, and then killed himself.

The coroner said the weapon was a 9 mm pistol.

Powell was being questioned in connection with the stabbing death earlier this week of a 20-year-old Jackson man.

Counselors and clergy were meeting with police officers grieving the death of Smith, a 40-year-old husband and father.

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